Charging mechanism



Dec. 31,1940.

6. E. FRANCK CHARGING MECHANISM Original Filed April 11. 1938 INVENTORATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 31, 1940 PATENT OFFICE 2,226,851 CHARGINGMECHANISM George E.

Imperial Brass Franck, Berwyn, 111.,

Manufacturing Company,

assignor to The Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Originalapplication April 11, 1938, Serial No. 201,370. Divided and thisapplication October 10, 1938, Serial No. 234,211

8 Claims. (C1. 62-115) My invention relates to valved chargingmechanisms and particularly mechanisms using valve devices in chargingrefrigeration systems with a gaseous refrigerant. This application is adivision of my co-pending application for a Charging valve, Serial No.201,370, filed April 11, 1938.

Among the objects of my invention is the provision of a valve device andchargingsystem of extemely simple design which serves all of thepurposes required of a which is relatively simple and inexpensive tomanufacture.

Another object is the provision in a new and improved charging mechanismof avalve device for a refrigeration system which has the parts and thehandle so arranged that an operator may be able to tell at a glanceexactly how the valve is adjusted.

Still another object is the provision in a charging mechanism of a newand improved double acting charging valve device including provision forattachment to an auxiliary supply tank for charging a refrigerationsystem which can be adjusted through a fraction of a revolution in orderto,change the setting of the valve from a position for unloading thetank to a position for filling the tank, there being also provided aseparate shut off means for disconnecting the auxiliary supply tank anda gauge operable toindicate either high pressure-or low pressureconditions dependingupon the setting of the valve.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangemerit and combination of the various parts of mydevice whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter morefully set forth and pointed out in my claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the charging mechanism with parts of arefrigeration system anlrll the connecting lines, shown diagrammatica y.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the valve device taken on the line2-2 of Figure l. 3 Figure 3 is a side elevation of the valve device onthe line 3-3 of Figure 1 with the ,central portion broken away to showthe valve chamber and some of connections thereto.

In refrigeration systems in common use today for household andcommercial installations, the parts consist primarily of a motor drivencom pressor with an evaporator connected thereto containing a charge ofrefrigerant gas which flows continuously'from the compressor throughcharging valve and one and the compressor power the compressor acondenser, thence through the evaporator and back again passing throughsuitably valved connecting lines. Some refrigerant gases in common useare sulphur dioxide, methyl chloride, freon and others. These gasesordinarily are very volatile in character and when introduced into arefrigeration system, must be very carefully handled. The method ingeneral of charging a system with a fresh supply of gas is to connect acylinder of condensed gas to a valve 10 on the low pressure side of thecompressor, then start the compressor and open the connection betweenthe cylinder and the compressor so that the compressor will draw the gastherefrom.

Other occasions may arise able to unload the system of the gas and inthe case of refrigerant gases which may be poisonous orwhich may berelatively expensive, it is not desirable to dissipate it into theatmosphere; Therefore, means need be provided for collecting 20 the gasagain. Such a means consists in its simplest form of another empty tankconnected'to the high pressure side of the compressor. When theconnection has been made and the connecting line emptied of air, it isopened to the tank is operated. By its own forces the refrigerant gasfrom the system into the empty cylinder wher'ein it is compressed andcollected. a

Owing to the characteristic volatility of refrigerant gases and theiroftimes poisonous character, valves of a very special design must beused in order to properly control the flow during charging or emptyingoperations. 3 Furthermore, these valves must be of an extremely tightconstruction and to provide. this it is the custom to use positiveseating needle valves rather than the ordinary plug type valves whichare suitable only for low pressure use. 40

In order to reduce the size and weight of such a valve device and makeit convenient to use, it becomes advisable to incorporate into thedevice a double acting valve seating in either of two positions but soconstructed that it is absolutely 4 tight. In the embodiment of myinvention there is shown a single double acting valve device having abody which may be connected at one point to the high pressure side of acompressor, at another point to the lowpressure side and at still 50another point to a. charging cylinder. In addition a gauge is providedfor indicating either high pressure or low pressure as the case may be.The

valve device is equipped with a handle having a pointer adapted to pointtoward either the 56 where it is desir- 15 prising a conventional shutoff valve II for the refrigeration system. From the shut off valve Iiatubing line l8 conducts the refrigerant gas to a condenser l8, thenceto an evaporator I 8 and through a tubing line I! to a connection on thelow pressure side at 20. A motor 22 is supplied to drive the compressorby means of a belt 24.

The reference character Bindicates a charging valve device and thecharacter C a tank for extra refrigerant fluid.

The charging valve device itself consists of a body 26 provided at oneside with a threaded boss 28 upon which is secured a nut 30 for clampingthereto a length of tubing 32 connected to the compressor at an outlet12 on the high pressure side of the refrigeration system." On theopposite side of the body in a position slightly forward, there isprovided a threaded boss 34 equipped with a nut 36 adapted to clampthereto a length of copper tubing 38 which is connected to f thecompressor at the low pressure side of the refrigeration system at apoint I4.

Upon still another side ofthe body below the valve device as shown inFigure 1 there is an internally threaded boss 40 to which may beconnected a shut oil! valve 42 of the needle valve variety and connectedto the shut off valve by means of a nut 44 is a tubing line 46 whichterminates at the upper end 48 of the charging cylinder 0. A handle 50is provided on the shut 01! valve for opening it and closing it whilethe main charging valve is being set.

On the upper side of 'the body there is still another internallythreaded boss 52 upon which is mounted a gauge "having a face 56graduated above and below the zero reading so that pressure may bemeasured, as is customary in pounds,

and a vacuum, measured in inches. The calibrations, of course, arearbitrary.

Within the body 28 of the valve there is provided a common centralchamber 80 which has a short passage 62 at the front side thereof and avalve seat at the entrance thereto. The passage I2 is directly connectedwith another passage it partly within the threaded boss 34 connected'tothe low pressure side of the system. It is also to be noted that thecentral chamber II is directly connected to the gauge, the shut oflvalve and the high pressure side.

Protruding from the forward side of the valve is a stem' 88 upon whichis mounted a handle 10 held by a screw 12 and equipped with a pointerorindicator 14 which in Figure 1 is shown pointing towards the highpressure connection. The valve stem extendsinward through the passage 82and is threaded in an outer extension of the passage by means of atriple thread connection ll so provided in order to produce a greatlongitudinal movement of the valve with a minimum rotational adjustment.At the inner end of the stem 68 there is provided a valve 18 having aforward conical face adapted to seat against the low pressure seat 64and a rearward conical face 82. The valve stem is held in place by meansof a packing 84, a packing ring 86 and packing nut 88 in order that thevalve may be tightly sealed against any possible escape of the volatilerefrigerant.

At the rear of the central chamber 60 there is provided a threadedpassage 90 into which is threadably screwed a plug 92 provided with ascrew driver slot 94 for adjusting it inwardly or outwardly. The plughas a central depression 96 provided at its forward end with a valveseat 58 cooperable with the rearward conical portion 82 of the valve.Surrounding the plug is an annular recess 98 with passages I00connecting the recess with the central depression. On the left side ofthe valve body there isa drilled passage "12 communicating between thethreaded passage 90 at a point adjacent the annular recess and a passageI 04 in the threaded boss 28 directly connected to the high pressureside of the systern.

In assembling the valve mechanism the stem 68 is inserted from the rearand secured tightly against the forward or low pressure valve seat 64.In this position thelow pressure side is closed and the high pressureside will be open. The handle 10 can then be mounted upon the valve stemin position so that the indicator 14 points toward the open highpressure connection. To complete the adjustment the valve stem 88 isrotated so that the indicator 14 points toward the low side'connection.This rotation will cause the valve to open the low side and occupy aposition wherein the high side should be closed. Accordingly, the plug92 is screwed into the threaded aperture 90 until its'valve seat 98 ispressed tightly against thew conical portion 82 and the adjustment somade positively positions the throw of the valve stem. The plug 92 isthen sweated, soldered or otherwise sealed in position in order tofreeze it tightly in place and seal the valve against escape of therefrigerant gas. By the operation thus described there is'provided aneedle valve which has a limited definite throw from a highposition to alow position so constructed that the operator can tell at a glance whichway the valve is set.

Operation of the device as here described presumes it to be connected asshown to a wellknown refrigeration system including, for example, aconventional type of compressor having internal valves. Initially theflow through the pipe I I is shut ,off by means of the stop valve ll.Then when the compressor is started it will evacuate a substantialportion of,the air initially in thesystem by withdrawing it from thepipe l8, condenser l2, evaporator I i and expel it out- .wardly throughthe pipe 22. To assure expulsion oi the air the forward face of thevalve 18 is seated against the valve seat 64 and with the pipe line 4,initiallyopening into the atmosphere air may be expelled through theopen valve 42.

Having evacuted the air. except perhaps for a small quantity which maylater be purged by conventional methods, the valve 42 is closed and thepipe line 48 is attached to tank 0. The valve ll may now be shifted sothat the rear face confacts the seat 22, the valve 42 again opened andas the compressor continues to operate gas will be drawn from the tankinto the system through the pipe line 28. When the operation is com-"plete valve 42 is shut off and valve 18 is left closed the handle IIIwill be shifted so that the pointer 14 is directed toward high position.The valve 18 will then be seated upon the valve seat closing the line 38to the passage of refrigerant gas. Then with the valve ll shut off andthe compressor operatinggas will be drawn from the system and expelledoutwardly through the line 32, the charging valve B, the shut off valve42 and thence into the tank C.

. Should it be desired manual shut off valves of conventional design maybe used where the pipe lines 32 and 38 are attached to the compressor.By shutting off such valves the charging unit may be removed at any timewithout it being necessary to empty the system of refrigerant gas.

Should it be desired to empty the compressor the valve will be shiftedso that the indicator points to the high side connection. The gauge willimmediately register the high side pressure in pounds above the zeroreading and when this pressure reaches a desired amount the shut offvalve, meanwhile having been closed, will be opened, allowing therefrigerant to be driven from the compressor into the empty auxiliarytank C.

Another position is possible and becomes desirable if something shouldgo wrong in the refrigeration system, necessitating that the pressure onthe evaporator, for example, be relieved. Should such a circumstanceoccur, the valve handle 10 can be rotated part way around so that thevalve is midway between a high position and a low position. With asetting of this sort, refrigerant gas from the compressor will bebypassed through the valve from the high pressure side to the lowpressure side, thereby relieving any undue strain upon the refrigerationsystem.

There has therefore been provided a simple,

' compact charging valve device which is suitable for all chargingoperations and one which is easily installed and readily operated bypersons having a limited experience or knowledge of refrigerationsystems.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of theparts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purpose'ofmy invention and it is my invention to cover by my claims any modifiedforms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may bereasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a refrigerant circuit and an apparatus forcharging and discharging refrigerant respectively into and from saidcircuit comprising means forming a source of pressure equipped withconnections respectively at thehigh pressure and low pressure sides, anauxiliary tank for refrigerant, a charging valve mechanism having oneconnection to the high pressure side, another connection to the lowpressure side and a third connection to the auxiliary tank, a two wayvalve in said mechanism adapted to be turned to a position to openapassage from the high side to the tank and a position to open a passagefrom the lowside to the tank.

2. The combination of arefrigerant circuit and an apparatus for chargingand discharging refrigerant respectively into and from said circuitcomprising a compressor equipped with valved connections respectively atthe high pressure and low pressure sides, an auxiliary tank forrefrigerant, a charging valve mechanism having one con- ,'nection to thehigh pressure side, another connection to the low pressure side and athird connection to the auxiliary tank, a valve in said mechanismadapted to be turned to a plurality of en compressor equipped withconnections at the high pressure and low pressure sides respectively,and an auxiliary tank for refrigerant, a charging valve mechanism havingone connection to the high pressure side, another connection to the lowpressure side and a third connection to the auxiliary tank, a valve insaid mechanism adapted to be turned to a plurality of positions one toopen a passage from the high side to the tank, and one to open a passagefrom the low side to the tank, an auxiliary shut off valve cooperablewith the mechanism adapted to control the connection to the auxiliarytank for closing flow therebe-.

tween during manipulation of said first valve.

4. The combination of a refrigerant circuit and an apparatus forcharging and discharging refrigerant respectively into and from saidcircuit comprising a power driven compressor equipped with valvedconnections at the high pressure and low pressure sides respectively,and an auxiliary tank for refrigerant a charging valve mechanism havingone connection tothe high pressure side, another connection to the lowpressure side and a third connection to the auxiliary tank, a valve insaid mechanism adapted to be turned to a plurality of positions one toopen a passage from the high side to the tank, and one to open a'passagefrom the low side to the tank, .an auxiliary shut off valve cooperablewith the mechanism adapted to control the connection to the auxiliarytank for closing fiow therebetween during manipulation of said firstvalve and a gauge for the valve mechanism'operable in all positions ofsaid first valve.

5. The combination of a refrigerant system and an apparatus for chargingand discharging refrigerant respectively into and from said systemcomprising a power driven compressor equipped with connectionsrespectively at the high pressure and low pressure side, an auxiliarytank for refrigerant, a charging valve mechanism having one connectionto the high pressure side, another connection to the low pressure sideand a third connection to the auxiliary tank, a valve in said mechanismadapted to be turned to a plurality of positions, one to open a passagefrom the high side to the tank, one to open a passage from an apparatusfor transferring refrigerant thereto or therefrom; said refrigerantcircuit including 'a compressor having a high and a low'side; saidapparatus including a flow control apparatus, a-

container, a first and a second conduit connecting the high and the lowsides, respectively, of the compressor to the fiow control structure anda I third conduit connecting the container to the fiow controlstructure; said flow control structure .comprising a body having achamber therein, a

port,-means connecting said port to the third mentioned conduit, asecond port communicating with the conduit connected to the low side ofthe compressor, a third port commulcating with the conduit connected tothe high side of the compressor, a pair of valve seats communicatingwith said chamber, and a valve located in said chamber and movable fromone seat to the other to selectively disconnect said container from thehigh side or the loss side of said compressor.

'7. The combination of a refrigerant circuitand an apparatus fortransferring refrigerant thereto or therefrom; said refrigerant circuitincluding a compressor having a high and a low side, a condenser and anevaporator; said apparatus including a flow control apparatus, acontainer, a first and a second conduit connecting the high and the lowsides, respectively, of the compressor to the flow control structure anda third conduit connecting the container to the flow control structure;said flow control structure comprising a body having a chamber therein,a port, valved means connecting said port to the third mentionedconduit, a second port communicating with the conduit connected to thelow side of the compressor, a third port communicating with the conduitconnected to the high side of the compressor, a pair of valve seatsconfronting each other and communicating with said chamber, and a valvelocated in said chamber and movable from one seat to the other toselectively disconnect said container from the high side or the low sideof said compressor. I

8. The combination of a refrigerant circuit and an, apparatus fortransferring refrigerant thereto or therefrom; said refrigerant circuitincluding a compressor having a high and a low side, a condenser and anevaporator; said apparatus ineluding a flow control apparatus, acontainer, a

.flrst and a second conduit connecting the high and the low sides,respectively, of the compressor to the flow control structure and athird conduit connecting the container to the flow control structure;said flow control structure comprising a body having a chamber therein,a port, independent valved means on the body connecting said port to thethird mentioned conduit, a second port communicating with the conduitconnected to the low side of the compressor, a third port communicatingwith the conduit connected to the high side of the compressor, a pair ofvalve seats in axial alignment with each other and at opposite sides ofsaid chamber, and a two faced valve located in said chamber and movablefrom one seat to the other to selectively disconnect said container fromthe high side or the low side 01' said compressor and having anintermediate position to connect said low side with said high I side.

GEORGE E. FRANCK.

